


Secrets

by wastefulreverie



Series: PhannieMay Shots 2019 [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Ghost OC, Humor, Identity Reveal, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-26 23:32:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18727096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wastefulreverie/pseuds/wastefulreverie
Summary: Desperate for revenge, Paulina looks to ghosts to help expose her new rival's secret. From there, things only go wrong.





	Secrets

Paulina was a shameless revenge seeker. She was sure that most teenage girls would resort to petty tactics like meddling in other people's relationships or harmful pranks. Paulina wasn't like most other girls though; she was from Amity Park, the most haunted town in America. And she wasn't afraid to play by her _own_ rules.

It was a known fact that all of the Amity Park ghosts seemed to have some sort of gimmick about them. The Box Ghost, a loser in overalls who liked cardboard a lot; Skulkreex or something, who allegedly hunted other ghosts for prey; Ember McClain, an edgy rockstar who stole power through chanting; and most infamously, Danny Phantom, Amity Park's very own superhero. Some ghosts were just obsessed with their fixations, while others gained their power from it.

Fascinated by this concept, Paulina did some research on ghosts with specific fixations. Originally she'd been trying to learn if there was a ghost that specialized in turning people ugly. Instead she discovered something much more interesting.

She'd heard about a ghost that could reveal other's secrets from some goth college chick from the Skulk and Lurk, a pisspoor cesspool of emo debauchery. A goth book store wasn't the sort of place that Paulina would normally ever set foot, but she was desperate. No one else seemed to really know what was up with the ghosts besides the punk rockers and the crazy ghost hunters, and out of the two she preferred the punk kids.

"So you're looking for a ghost that can like totally screw up this girl's social life, right?" the goth girl asked. She had bright blue hair and nose ring that kept drawing Paulina's attention. Paulina didn't mind body or ear piercings, but facial piercings always managed to freak her out….

"Pretty much," she shrugged.

The girl scoffed, "Shit, I wish I had that much ambition when I was your age. Resorting to ghosts to deal some revenge; that sounds wicked."

Paulina crossed her arms, "Well, it's what this girl deserves. She just moved here and is making me look like an idiot in front of all my friends. I _won't_ stand for it."

"That's a fun attitude," the goth girl laughed. Paulina didn't get her sense of humor, but whatever. "Anyway, I think you should try summoning the Secret Ghost. She's a ghost that's super obsessed with revealing other people's secrets. She can sense people who are hiding things and feeds off of them when they're revealed."

"So… if I summon this ghost, she can reveal all of Bree's secrets and embarrass her?"

"If that's what you want," she answered with a sly grin.

Paulina didn't hesitate. "I'm in. How do I summon this lady?"

The goth girl reached for pen and started writing down instructions. "Well, first off, her name's Tajana…."

* * *

It took Paulina a week to follow the goth girl's instructions. Her first attempt to summon 'Tajana' had ended disastrously, and she had accidentally invited Technus into her house instead. Then the Fentons had to come over and completely debug all of her family's technology, which wasn't fun since it was the _Fentons_ for God's sake. She'd rather be on the receiving end of one of Dash's world famous wedgies than deal with Jack Fenton's ghost chatter. How his children lived with him… she didn't know.

Her second try summoning Tajana was much more successful. She performed the ritual in her bedroom and was greeted by a blue skinned, purple-haired, five-foot tall woman with a tail. She was smaller than some of the other ghosts that Paulina had met and wore a red tunic that blended with her tail.

" _Human_ ," Tajana spoke, "what have I been summoned for?"

Paulina had been half-expecting to be attacked on sight, so Tajana was already coming across more friendly than Paulina had anticipated.

"You are Tajana, correct? The ghosts that can sense secrets?"

"I am, indeed," the ghost nodded. "And what is that to you?"

"I want to make a deal," Paulina proposed. "I have a rival, and I want to reveal her deepest, darkest secrets. If you would help me do that, then we both win; you get power from her secret, and I get the satisfaction of exposing her."

Understanding her intent, the ghost grinned. "That can be arranged…"

"Great!" Paulina exclaimed in relief. "So how would we go about doing that?"

Tajana shrugged and drifted a few feet to the left, moving to sit on Paulina's bed. "Well," she started, "I don't really have the power the reveal secrets, it's more of a… premonition. I can sense who has strong secrets and from there I can predict the best course of action that will reveal them."

"So you can sense the future?" Paulina was confused.

"Not the future, no. I can… how do I put this?" Tajana groaned. "If someone has a strong secret, they give off a certain type of energy. For instance, you have a moderate energy; you have some secrets, but they aren't exactly _riveting_. Once I lock onto someone's secret energy, I can expedite the most probable scenario that will lead to a secret's exposure."

"Okay… I think I get it? Are you just going to follow me to school, then? I'll show you which girl is Bree, the girl I want to humiliate."

"That's… a bit complicated," Tajana winced. "Ghosts have to have some sort of tradeoff for their abilities. I can do some things that other ghosts can't, but in exchange I can't do things that other ghosts can. One of those things is that I can't go invisible. I doubt I'd make it five seconds in the human world without causing a complete panic."

Recalling Casper High's chronic ghost problem, Paulina couldn't tell Tajana that she was wrong. Usually when a ghost appeared, the default reaction was to get out of the line of fire at whatever cost. "Yeah, that doesn't seem like it'd work out…. So how am I going to get you close enough to Bree to expose her secrets?"

"Well, there's always possession," Tajana said offhandedly. "I can do that."

Paulina balked, stepping a few steps away from Tajana. "Possess? You mean like take control of me and lock me in my own body?"

"No," Tajana assured quickly, " _that's_ overshadowing. Possession is a bit different. Any ol' specter can overshadow. Possessing takes different skill; both of us are aware and share control of your body during possession."

Paulina raised a brow, gauging if she was serious. "You can do that but you can't turn invisible?"

She regretted her words immediately when Tajana's aura flared and her red eyes darkened in fury, "Are you _judging_ me, human?" she floated off of the bed and towered over Paulina. "I told you that in exchange-"

"No!" Paulina denied, blood rushing in her ears. "Not judging!"

Tajana closed her eyes for a moment, her aura fading back to normal. Paulina released a shaky breath of relief once the ghost had evidently placated. Tajana returned back to floating above Paulina's bed and resumed as if nothing had happened, "So would you be open to that idea?"

Paulina was taken off guard by the question, "Uh… with you possessing me?"

"Yes." Tajana stared at her, unnerving Paulina. It took her a moment to realize that the ghost wasn't blinking.

"I think it'll be weird," Paulina admitted, finding it difficult to associate herself with the notion, "but as long as you don't overstep your boundaries and let me have control over my own body, I'll do it. Anything to get back at that _bitch_."

Tajana smirked deviously. It wasn't the most attractive smile because fangs jutting from her lip gave a formidable impression rather than encouraging. "Then it's a deal. I'll cease my possession once both of us are satisfied."

To seal the deal, she offered her hand to Paulina. Realizing that she wanted her to shake her hand, Paulina faltered. Did she need physical contact to possess her or was this just a social gesture that Paulina was misinterpreting…?

"We're not going to do this now, are we?" she asked warily. "I'm not uh, ready to be possessed. After all, school isn't until tomorrow morning."

"Oh," Tajana's eyes widened in understanding. Paulina didn't even see the ghost lower her hand, it just materialized back at her side. _Weird_. "Well, I guess we'll wait until then."

* * *

Tajana left Paulina alone for most of the night, which Paulina was grateful for; but she still didn't get much sleep with the ghost's nearby presence. She woke up about an hour before school started, which was a little later than usual for her but she'd only gotten about three hours of sleep.

True to her word, Tajana only possessed Paulina rather than overshadowing her. Paulina had sat nervously on her bed waiting for the feeling of Tajana taking control, but the feeling never came. After about twenty seconds after Tajana had vanished from Paulina's vision, Paulina started to question if she had been fooled.

"Are you… did you do it?" she asked aloud.

 **Yes,** Tajana spoke in her mind. Paulina jumped. Her voice drowned out everything else for a moment, loud; almost like she was speaking through a pair of headphones. The truth of the matter was what felt weirder, Paulina wasn't accustomed to a disembodied voice speaking in her head.

**Well, I do suppose that it does take some getting used to. Of course, not that I know - I've never been on your side of possession.**

Paulina squeaked, "You can read my _thoughts_?" She suddenly felt very invaded and was regretting her decision. What if she thought something she didn't mean to think and the ghost got angry? What if she thought something really embarrassing? ( _Really embarrassing: like how I pretend to make out with Phantom in the shower with my shampoo bottle pretty much every day?) Mierda!_ God, she hadn't wanted to think about that right now, that's so humiliating, _oh God_ -

**Stop freaking out about it. I've been in the minds of perverts much less self-aware than you, sweetie. Nothing you say will make me judge you too much, or make me angry enough to** **_kill_ ** **you.**

_You're totally going to kill me._ "Uh… alright. I'll keep that in mind…."

Paulina sensed that Tajana was giving her the mental equivalent of rolling her eyes, but didn't say anything about it. I mean, what _could_ she say about it?

"Let's just… go to my school," Paulina suggested. "We can talk more on the way there."

 **Well, it's your body,** Tajana spoke. **I'm just here for the ride.**

* * *

Paulina didn't know if it was because there was a ghost in her head, nerves, or if the universe decided to spice things up today, but Casper High seemed unnaturally brighter. Colors that had been dull yesterday now popped out to Paulina. The gray water fountain was actually sort of a bright bluish, the yellow-green lockers glowed with unnatural saturation, and the orange flower that Star always wore was practically a physical sunset. She hadn't realized that there could be so much vibrance in the world.

 **Yeah,** **I assume that's probably from me** , Tajana butted in on her thoughts. Paulina still wasn't used to the intrusion and fliched. **But just ignore it. We have more important things to worry about**.

"You're right," Paulina muttered under her breath. _I'll try to find Bree._

She knew that Breeana often got to school early and hung out near the cafeteria with some of the other A-List boys. _Slut_. She'd only moved to Casper High two months ago and had climbed to the top of the social ladder by fucking around with some of the jocks. When she arrived at the cafeteria, Bree wasn't there yet, so Paulina opted to wander aimlessly around the school until she found her.

She had probably spent no less than five minutes looking for her rival before Tajana spoke again. **_TURN BACK AROUND._**

Paulina immediately clutched her head. " _Ow_ ," she hissed. "That was _loud_."

 **Well, I** ** _said_** **turn back around,** Tajana commanded. Before Paulina could react, Tajana took control for a moment and made Paulina turn back towards the main hallway. She collided with two nerd girls that cursed at her but Tajana kept on walking.

 _Do you sense Bree?_ Paulina thought.

**Maybe. It's vague but… this is the strongest energy I've ever felt from a human. This person has some** **_big_ ** **secrets…. I have to feed on their secret energy. I can't let an opportunity like this slip away.**

Paulina nearly laughed out loud in excitement. _It_ has _to be Bree! I just knew that she had some big dark, dirty secret! Everyone else in this school is too boring; she's the only one that fits the bill!_

Tajana guided Paulina down the hallway, dodging backpacks and stray elbows like an expert. Eventually, Tajana slowed down and leaned against a nearby locker. Paulina crossed her arms and looked around, _I don't see Bree anywhere._

 **Not her,** ** _him_** **,** Tajana corrected. She tilted Paulina's head toward a familiar group of losers. Fenton, Foley, and Manson were huddled together in their usual place, engaged in some sort of hush-hush discussion. **The one with blue eyes and black-hair, he has many,** ** _many_** **secrets. It's almost overwhelming. The two beside him share some of his secrets, but they aren't as strong.**

Paulina scoffed in disbelief, " _Fenton?_ "

She hadn't realized she'd spoken audibly (and very loudly, at that) until the trio of freaks turned towards her. There was at least ten feet between her and the losers, but it might as well have been one foot. A few onlookers watched the interaction with curiosity.

Danny bristled awkwardly, "Uh… hi Paulina?"

 _Oh shit._ She hadn't meant to draw attention to herself, especially to that dweeb. Now he and his friends had closed the space between them and they were only an arm's length away.

"No," she blushed, nearly mortified, "not _you_."

**Yes,** **_him_ ** **. He's the one; his secrets are valuable. I** **_need_ ** **them.**

_Fenton's a nobody! He doesn't have secrets. The poor kid's practically an open book! We_ should _be exposing Breeana Ahluwalia's secrets instead; she's the whore that's been talking shit about me!_

"Okay?" he nervously raised a hand to his neck. "Why'd you say my name then?"

**Look, we can reveal her after this guy. Look at him - he's clearly hiding something!**

"I doubt that," she hissed, answering Tajana. Danny gave her an odd look for a moment before she realized her mistake. "I mean… I thought you were someone else," she deliberately laughed. It distracted boys when she laughed. "It was a stupid mistake."

Instead of captivating Danny, her laugh only befuddled him. He threw her a skeptical look, "But you said _my_ name?" _Shit_ , he was actually questioning her logical.

She shrugged weakly, "I didn't say it was a smart mistake."

"Alright then," he replied, turning back to his friends. Manson and Foley gave her odd looks before all three of them took off down the hallway.

 **Follow them,** Tajana whispered. **You can't lose sight of him.**

 _I don't want to follow around_ Fenton! _I need to get revenge on Bree! Why don't you get it? Our original deal was to reveal her secret, and you're not holding up your end of it!_

Tajana sounded agitated, **Trust me, if you do this one thing for me I'll help you with your rival or whatever. All you have to do let me figure out the best way to reveal him! Easy as pie!**

 _I don't know…_ Paulina hesitated, _do you swear that you won't forget about Bree?_

 **Yes,** Tajana broadcasted a semblance of honesty to Paulina. **I promise.**

_Fine, then I'll follow around Fenton or whatever so you can reveal his secret. Happy?_

**_Extremely._ **

* * *

It wasn't how Paulina wanted to spend her day: a ghost rambling in her skull, constantly reminding her to spy on Danny Fenton - as if she wasn't doing an adequate job! She was ultimately stuck tailing three losers with little to no explanation available to her friends, who had all heard about Paulina's strange encounter with Fenton in the hallway that morning. But alas, this is how things were going and there wasn't exactly a way for her to get out of this situation. She figured that Tajana would stay in her head until she did want she wanted and ghost hunters were out of the question since Tajana could probably evade them.

**You got that right.**

_Stop listening._

**I actually can't. Suck it up.**

Jeez, this entire thing was getting stressful quickly. At least the loser trio hadn't noticed her following them yet, or so she thought. If they knew they were doing a pretty convincing job at hiding it, but she doubted that the two boys had good enough poker faces to pull it off.

She'd sat close to him in three classes, watched him across the room in gym class, and kept a keen eye on him during lunch. When he left to go to the bathroom in Lancer's class, she tried to follow him but Lancer wouldn't let her because of his stupid 'one person at a time' policy. School, as usual, was _bullshit._

When school let out for the day, she reluctantly refused Star's offer to hang out and lied. She claimed that her parents were grounding her unless she studied enough to get her Chemistry grade up to a C. Star seemed suspicious, but there wasn't anything Paulina could do; so she ditched her friend and followed Danny Fenton and his entourage to the Nasty Burger instead.

Oddly enough, Paulina didn't think she could recall a time when she visited Amity's favorite burger place alone. Ever. Usually she was with her friends, watching them make fools of themselves and using the nerds to put on a show. Sitting in a booth alone (save for the nagging voice in her head) was foreign to Paulina. And in a way, it was comforting. Or, at least she thought so until she remembered that she was _stalking_ someone.

 **We're not stalking, we're just waiting. Sooner or later, an opportunity will present itself. When it does, you and I will swoop in and manipulate 'Fenton' into revealing his big juicy secret.  
** _…_ _and then we'll go find Bree?_

Tajana sighed. **Yes, we'll expose her too. For the thousandth time, I swear-**

Paulina looked up. Tajana had stopped talking for a reason and she had sensed it. Fenton had stood up, made some loud excuse to his friends, and ran out the back entrance of the restaurant.

**This is it. This is our chance!**

_Finally._

Paulina pushed herself out of the booth, waited until Foley and Manson were looking away, and also slipped out the back door. Her first impression was that the alley smelled rank, and wrinkled her nose. Focusing, she looked both ways and couldn't see Fenton which was impossible - he shouldn't have been to move so fast.

"I knew it," he Fenton said, somewhere to her left. She turned and he was sitting on top of the dumpster. He hadn't been there when she looked a second ago… _what_?

 **Concentrate,** Tajana chastised.

 _I am._ "F - Fenton? How'd you…?"

He crossed his arms. He looked so out of place on top of the dumpster, almost like some kind of bad boy… but Fenton wasn't a bad boy. "The jig's up," he said. "I know you've been following me because my ghost sense keeps going off around Paulina. Who are you? Kitty again?"

He voiced was laced with venom, which is definitely not what she expected to hear from the kid who spent most of his time stumbling through life as Dash's punching bag. Nevermind that, what was he even _talking about_? His 'ghost sense'? And what did he mean 'Kitty again'? Sure, there was that one time a ghost turned her into the anime character Sayonara Pussycat but why would he be talking about _that_ incident? Hell, how would he even know about it?

"What the hell are you saying, Fengeek?" she demanded. She was _not_ going to let this nerd confuse her.

He rolled his eyes. He pushed himself off the dumpster and hit the ground hard, landing on his feet. That sort of impact should have at least made his knees collapse, but he stood up straight, giving no indication that he was in pain.

"I know overshadowing when I see it. Now get out of her or I'll _force_ you out."

Paulina didn't know how to respond. How had he figured out that Tajana was in her? Of course, he had mistook possession for overshadowing, but he had figured the gist of the situation out. She didn't know how to respond, but before she could even think about it Tajana took the reigns. Paulina felt frozen, unable to control her own actions; Tajana was in control of her now and there was nothing she could do.

Her face contorted into a smug glare. " **Force?** " Tajana laughed, her voice echoing hauntingly. " **Who are** ** _you_** **to force me to do anything, ignorant child? Who can't even tell the difference between overshadowing and possession…** ** _pathetic_** **.** "

Instead of cowering in fear, as Paulina expected Fenton to react, he grinned. "You're someone new then, huh? Not from around here either? Going on the fact that you don't know about me…."

" **What's your secret then, human?** " Tajana egged him on. " **What makes you believe you're so superior?** "

"Eh, just a few months of experience, I guess," he shrugged. Before Tajana could verbally goad him again, he threw up his arms into the air as if he was summoning something from the sky. He muttered something under his breath, confidence drawn all over his face. A flash of light sparked around his waist, hovering there before expanding into a ring of luminance around him. The light began to spread to the rest of his body, leaving dark material in the places it touched.

At this surprising sight, Paulina tried to take a few steps back but Tajana still wouldn't let her move. **This is** ** _it_** **! No wonder his secret is so strong, he's…**

The rings of light passed Fenton's torso, revealing a familiar white emblem on his shirt. Her mind lagged, refusing to process the shock of the revelation. Blue eyes were replaced by green; inky black hair was drained of its usual substance, leaving behind gravity-defying, ivory tufts that seemed to blur with movement. He was - _was_ -

" **A** ** _halfa!_** **An** ** _actual_** **halfa! Oh and the myths - the myths are real!** "

No, _he's Phantom. He's Danny Phantom._ What the hell? Tajana had insisted that Fenton had some kind of deep secret incomparable to anyone else she'd met… and this was it? Paulina didn't understand, no, she _couldn't_ understand. What was Tajana even blathering about 'half ofs?' Paulina couldn't shake the feeling of general wrongness that was here; none of this was right.

Now Fenton - Phantom - who _ever_ he was; looked confused, "If you didn't know, why were you followi-…?" he trailed off. He shook his head and jumped five feet into the air. Paulina's stomach dropped when she realized that he wasn't falling down. "Ugh - _whatever_ ," he declared. "Don't think that'll stop me from kicking your butt! It's up to you whether Paulina is involved or not."

She'd seen Phantom fight ghosts many times, but now that she knew that he was Fenton, she couldn't help but perceive his actions through a murky lense of disbelief. The notion of _Fenton_ \- the cowardly son of infamous ghost hunters - using ghost powers was just _perturbing_. On top of that, he was fighting _her_ because he thought that Tajana was controlling her, which was true… but at least it was consensual? She couldn't handle it all. She wanted to squeeze herself into nothingness, escape this dizzy, confusing situation. Yet Tajana forced her to stand; to face Pha - Fent - no, _Danny…_ head on.

" **Don't tempt me, halfa,** " Tajana laughed. Once again, the reverb of her voice occupied the alley unnaturally. Rising to his challenge, she also leapt up into the air, hovering opposite of him. " **Thanks to your little revelation… I'm** ** _much_** **more powerful now.** "

"Oh," Danny raised his eyebrow, feigning interest, "and what's that supposed to mean?" He clenched his palm and willed a sphere of ecto-energy around his fist, extending it towards her. At that sight, Paulina's mind reeled with panic. _Tajana, don't do this, you won't win. I'm going to get_ hurt _. You can't win against Danny._

The ghost mentally scoffed, **No.**

She tilted her head, looking unimpressed at Danny's ectoblast. " **Secrets empower me,** " she explained. **"Therefore, the exposure of** ** _your_** **secret has only made me stronger.** "

"Oh, _joy_ ," Danny deadpanned. And with that simple quip, he shot the blast directly at Paulina. Internally screaming, muffled by Tajana's presence, Paulina only felt a faint tingling sensation strike her stomach. Tajana on the other hand... **_Fuck!_** **This heavy meat suit is hindering my reaction time!**

 _Uh, did you just call me fat? Do you wanna fucking_ go, _puta?_

**Sorry, this isn't exactly the** **_time!_ **

Tajana held a hand to Paulina's stomach, hissing at the burn that grazed her own body residing underneath Paulina's flesh. They were still in the air, but Tajana was lagging in flight, too slow to do anything else. Not wasting any time, Danny closed in on her and summoned another ectoblast. Instead of shooting it at her, he grabbed Paulina's shoulder and intangibly forced his hand _through_ Paulina's chest.

It was like electricity was shooting all throughout her nerves; she felt Tajana be ejected from her body and the sinking sensation of gravity return. With Tajana somewhere behind her, Paulina began to fall towards the ground, a whopping twenty foot drop that would certainly render her severely injured from this angle. But before she could shriek in alarm, the cold hand that had pulled out of her chest moments before wrapped around her waist, pulling her back into orbit. _Phantom._ (yet, Fenton.)

He flew them back to the alley, making sure that Paulina's feet were planted firmly on the ground before he stopped supporting her balance. Then, he swiped one of the thermoses from his belt, lunged back into the sky, and tracked down Tajana. Paulina observed in horror as the ghost she had made a deal with was hopelessly sucked and contorted into Danny's containment device. With one last agonizing wail about her " ** _rightful power_** ", Tajana fell silent inside the thermos.

Paulina didn't even notice when Danny returned to the alley, unconsciously floating a good foot off of the ground. Even his reflexive use of otherworldly abilities unnerved her; how much of a ghost _was_ Danny Fenton?

"Well, looks like she was all bark and no bite," he commented snarkily, tossing his thermos up in the air for good measure. He attached it back to his belt and turned back to Paulina. Noticing her bafflement, his expression softened with concern. "Are you uh, okay? You were overshadowed; a ghost took over your body," he explained.

Paulina just gawked. She still couldn't believe….

Sensing that she was uncomfortable, he tried reassuring her. "I got rid of her though, don't worry!" He forced a heroic smile, and for the first time, Paulina could see the real kid underneath Phantom's noble veneer.

"Fenton," she whispered, "what the _fuck_?"

The bold smile fell off of his face faster than she could think ' _whoops_ '.


End file.
